Furnace.



W. w. CASE, JR.

FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 16, 1913.

1,076,346. Patented Oct. 21, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ATTORNEYS W. .W. CASE, JR.

FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 15, 1913.

2 SHEETB-SHBET 2.

4 v l9 7 3 l8 /z A? 26 6 34 54- L 54 g 35 34 35 212sa a2 IN l/E/V TOR A4 ATTORNEYS V COLUMBIA PLANDORAPH 60.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

GTE

pnirnn s'ra'rns PATENT canon wiLLis w. class, (In, or DENVER, COLORADO;

FURNACE.

Application filed April 15, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIS W. CASE, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Denver, State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnaces; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in furnaces, and more particularly to furnaces of the muffle type, although some of its features may be advantageously used in connection with crucible assay furnaces.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a furnace that operates in the manner of a clean coke fire, whereby the entire outer surface of the muffle is uniformly heated, providing an even temperature throughout the interior of the muffle, enabling one to feather cupels and secure the desired uniform results.

Another object of the invention is to so support the muffle in association with a system of replaceable supports comprising a heat distributing or radiating medium, that an intense heat may be attained with a comparatively small consumption of fuel.

Another feature of the invention is the damper arrangement, whereby a perfect oxidizing draft of any degree may be attained for cupellation or scorification', or the damper arrangement may be completely closed when it is desired to raise the temperature more quickly, such arrangement enabling all parts of the mufile being supplied with air, so that perfect oxidation may be secured while cupellation is rapid and complete.

Another important feature resides in the provision of an auxiliary flue or icy-passage at the front of the furnace, whereby noxious fumes from the muffle may be carried off to outside atmosphere, irrespective of the operation of the damper arrangement, and this feature is very important as the fumes, especially lead, are not only disagreeable to the operative, but are deadly poisonous. And still another important feature is to provide a series of two or more furnaces arranged side by side as a combined unit, incased in a single casing, and being fed fuel and air through a system of branch pipes Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 215, 1913.-

Serial No. 761,283.

from a single oil reservoir and a single fan blower.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be more fully described in the following specification and succinctly pointed out in the appended claims.

For the purpose of more clearly understanding the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, illustrating a practical embodiment of same, in which drawings like characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which,

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a two-muiiie furnace of my improved type; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of same, with a portion of the front shelf and oil reservoir broken away; Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the plane of the line 33 of Figs. 1, 2 and 4; Fig. 4 is a view in longitudinal section taken along the plane of the line 47-4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detail view of one form of replaceable heat distributers and supports for the muffle; Fig. 7 is a similar view of another form; Fig. 8 is a similar view of still another form; Fig. 9 is a similar view of a heat distributer and support of triangular cross section.

While many of the features of the present invention may be applied to furnaces of a single, double or triple type, for the purpose of simplicity of illustration, 1 have simply shown a tandem or two-muffle furnace, and in the description I only refer generally to one section of the sectional two-mufile furnace. Each section is built up of a top and bottom member 1 and 2, made of the best fire clay and forming the lining of the muffle chamber 3, the whole furnace, whether of the single or double type, being incased in a substantial iron jacket or sheathing, with a cast-iron front and back 4 and 5, the side walls of the sheathing being designated by the numeral 6, and the top by the numeral 7. The front 4: is provided with an opening 8 registering with the mouth 9 of the muffle chamber, formed in the fire clay sections, and 10 designates a shelf mounted below said opening 8.

The upper fire clay block 1 and the top sheathing 7 are apertured to form exits for chamber and the air and gases from the in-' terior of the muffle, and this'may be in the form of a single large opening communicating with the interior of the muflle chamber at its rear and adapted also to receive the short tubular projection 11 at the rear or closed end of the muffle 12. In the drawings, however, there are shown two openings 13 and 1 1, the former being disposed at the forward end of muflle chamber and the lat ter at the rear, the opening 13 being more particularly adapted as a flue to carry oil the products of combustion, after complete circulation around the muflle, and the opening lt providing a ready means of exit for the fumes fromthe mullle, especially at the rear thereof.

The top surface of the fire clay block 1 is recessed, as at 15 and 16, formlng guide ways for housing sliding dampers 17 controlled by handles 18 projecting through slots 19, formed in the top sheathing 7, and operating to; damper the mufile chamber flue 13. and the mufiie flue 1 1.

The openings 20 and 21 in the top sheathing 7,, forming a continuation of the muffle lines) 13 14, are flanged to provide a spacing rim, and are slotted as at, 22; to communica te with a longitudinal recess 23, eX- tending above the top fire clay blocks 1, at right, angles to and immediately above the damper recesses 15 and 16, and this recess, 23 forms. a continuation of a vertical recess 24; cut in the front surface of the upper flre clay block 1, and forming with the top sheathing 7 and the front 4 of the casing a by-passage from the muffie chamber mouth 9 to the muffle chamber flue or muflle, flue, or both of them, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

The walls of the muffle chamber may be provided with ribs 25 guiding the heat currents, and, while this may apply to the side walls also, in the drawings, the rear wall only is shown as. being provided with vertical ribs 25 (see Figs. 3 and 5),, betweenwh ch are formed the guiding channels 26 for guiding the heat currents, the ribs also acting as heaters for the vertical walls of the muffle.

The muflleis supported in the furnace by a system of replaceable heat distributing supports. The center supports are preferably of theform shown in- Fig. 7, and consist of a plurality of integrally formed superposed rectangul a-r portions 26,,diminishing in size and forming a stepped pyramidhaving the heat radiating corner and top.

edges 27 and 28, which also aid in splitting up and deflectingthe flame and. products of combustion, distributing the heat more evenly below the muflie, the upper step of the pedestal also acting as a heater in direct contact with the bottom of the muflie. As

indicated in Figs. 2 and 9', the central pedestal supports may be formed of triangular cross section, and they are so arranged in the lower compartment of the mnflie chamher that they are disposed diagonally with reference to the flame, so that the path of the l flame is divided and deflected by the corner edges 27 andpass in a diverging fashion alongside the side surfaces 29 of the steps 26, causing them to throw upwardly an evenly distributed radiation of intensified heat, said pedestals being formed of fire clay or other highly refractory material. One of 1 these pedestals is preferably arranged adjacent the flame entrance 30, and the others are arranged in oflset positions, the flame Ientering the furnace substantially in. line Witl1 said pedestals, the lower part of the the end heater projections 34- c'orresponding muffle chamber serving as a combustion chamber. The combustion chamber is partly decreased in volume by side tiling 31 on which are supported another series of heater supports of somewhat diflerent form. As shown more clearly in Fig. 6 these side supports are of sectional construction, and consist of a. flat base 32 having a vertical side wall that merges into. spaced heater lugs or projections 34; forming spaces 35" therebetween to allow of the passage ofthe heated gases around the sides of the muffle, as will be hereinafter mentioned. Each of these side supports is provided on its ends with shoulders 36 of a height substantially equal to the height of the side walls 33, so that, when two sectionsare placed end to: end, the spacing sh0ulders'36 form a space between with the spaces 35 between the heater projection. 34 of each unit.

In assembling the side supports it will be .lnoted that I arrange a double row of secjtions, with their inside edges placed together, as shown in Fig. 1, and these rest on fthe tiling 31 and are slightly spaced from the side walls of the muffle.

35 designates, conventionally, an oil burner discharging its flame through the opening 30111 the combustion chamber of the furnace;

}ers, one in each muffle chamber.

in Figs'l and 2, l have shown two burn These lburners are fed with fuel oil from a reservoir 36 throu h a main line )i e 37 and branch pipes 38. Similarly, air is delivered 510 each burner through the branch pipes 39 connected with a suitable fan blower. The fan blower 40, illustrated in the drawings,

is shown as comprising a self-contained elec tric fan blower directly connected with an electric motor 41,. but it is evident that the fan blower, instead of being, directly con. nected with the motor, may be operated" by a belt or chain drive.

The burners in theunselves, forming no specific partof the pres entinvention, are simply referred to as oil burners,'and it will be understood that they are provided with proper controlling means for the delivery of the commingled air and oil into combustible relation, and it is also obvious that other types of burners and fuel may be employed.

In operation, it will be seen that the blast of the flame through the burner opening 30 initially impinges against the corner edges 27 of the center support immediately adjacent the burner opening which splits up the flame and diverts its passage along the side walls of the sections 26, as before explained, and the heated gases, being thoroughly radiated beneath the muffle, pass through the openings 35 of the double row of heater projections on each side of the furnace and thence upwardly and around the muffle, discharging through the muffle chamber flue 13. Similarly, the air and gases within the mufile pass out through the flue 14:, both the muffle flue and the muffle chamber flue being controlled by the dampers heretofore mentioned. When the muffie flue is closed, or nearly closed, and with the opening 8 closed by the usual replaceable door of fire clay, any noxious gases or fumes that are formed in the muffle are carried out through the opening 9 up the by-passages 24: into the horizontal passage 23, thence through the opening or slot 22 in the flanged top sheathing and pass into the fines 13 and ll above the dampers 17, and thence upwardly through any suitable chimney arrangement to the outside atmosphere.

From the foregoing description, the construction and operation of my improved furnace will be clearly understood, but it is obvious that minor changes might be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and without sacrificing any of the vital principles thereof, and the invention is not limited, therefore, to the precise details as shown and described. For instance, in some cases, the hollow truncated conical pedestal support 26, shown in Fig. 8, might replace the particular construction of pedestal support shown in Fig. 7, or might be used in connection with them.

In Figs. 2 and 9 I have illustrated the refractory pedestals comprising stepped pyramids 26 of triangular cross section.

I claim 1. In a furnace, the combination of a muffle chamber; heating means therefor; a muffle having a mouth and a discharge outlet; outlet means leading from said muffle chamber for-carrying off the products of combustion from said muffle chamber and the heated air and gases from said muffle outlet; dampering means for said muffle chamber outlet; and an auxiliary passage leading from the mouth of said muffle chamber to said muffle chamber outlet, substantially as described.

2. In a furnace, the combination of a muflie chamber; heating means therefor; a muffle having a mouth and a discharge outlet; a muffle flue extending through the top wall of said furnace in alinement with said muffle outlet for carrying off the heated air and gases from said muffle; a muffle chamber flue extending through the wall of the furnace; and dampers in said flues, substantially as described.

3. In a furnace, the combination of a muffle chamber; heating means therefor; a muffie having a mouth and a discharge outlet; a muffle flue extending through the furnace wall and adapted to receive the discharge from said muffle outlet; a muffle chamber flue; dampers for said fines; and a by-passage leading from the mouth of said muffle and discharging into one of said flues above its damper, substantially as described.

l. In a furnace, the combination of a muffle chamber; a muffle having a mouth and a' discharge outlet; outlet means extending through the wall of said furnace for carrying off the products of combustion from said muffle chamber and the discharge from said muffle outlet, the front and top outer surfaces of the furnace wall being provided with a recess extending from the mouth of the muffle chamber to said outlet means; a damper for said outlet means mounted below said top recess; and a sheathing for said furnace, the front and top walls of said sheathing forming with said recesses a by-passage leading from the mouth of said muffle chamber to said outlet means therefrom above said damper, substantially as described.

5. In a furnace, the combination of a muffle chamber formed from upper and lower sections of refractory material; heating means therefor; a muffle having a mouth and a discharge outlet; a muffle flue leading through said furnace wall from said muffle outlet; a mullle chamber flue for carrying ofi the products of combustion; recesses on the outer surface of said furnace wall and extending across the outer ends of said flues; a damper slidingly mounted in each of said recesses; a recess disposed at right angles to said damper recesses, on the outer face of said furnace wall and extending from the mouth of the muffle chamber to one of said fines; and a sheathing for incasing said furnace and cooperating with said latter recesses to form a passageway leading from the mouth of the muffle chamber to one of said flues on the outside of its damper, substantially as described.

6. In a furnace, the combination of a muffle chamber, a flame burner discharge therein, a muffle, and a plurality of stepped pyramids of refractory material supporting said muffle and cooperating to provide upwardly-flaring passages for directing heat against said muffle, said several stepped fle chamber; a flame burner discharging therein; a muflle; and a plurality of pedestals of refractory material for supporting said muffle,- said pedestals comprising a series of superposed steps triangular in cross section, forming flame deflecting and heat radiating surfaces and edges, substantially as described.

fie chamber having tiling or side ledges extending along the: lower sides thereof, forming a longitudinal channel therebetween; a muffle of lesser width and height than. said muffle chamber; a plurality of pedestal sup- F 'said tiling and having upwardly-extending spaced heater portions located substantially in line with the side walls of the muffle,

forming passageways for the heat and products of combustion to envelop said muffle, the space below said muffle fornnng a combastion-or flame chamber of restricted vol- I ume; a flame opening. leading into said flame chamber in line with said pedestal supports; a and a flame burner discharging into said flame opening,- substantially as; described.

8. In a furnace, the combination of a muf- 1 ture, in presence: of two witnesses.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signa:

VILLIS W. CASE, JR. Witnesses J. S. GIUSTA, EDW. S. STEWART.

Copies of (his patent maybe obtained. for five cents; each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G. 

